The present invention relates generally to a machine or method for transferring decalcomania (decals) from a rolled carrier web or strip to a series of articles. In particular, this invention is concerned with decals that have been preformed into miniaturized, irregular shapes and upon being transferred to an article assume a fully developed, regular, desired configuration.
A great many prior art references show apparatus for transferring indicia in the form of labels or decals from a rolled web to an article. Illustrations depicting the manner in which a variety of solutions have been attempted to solve existing problems may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,813,268; 3,928,115; and 4,084,501.
For the most part these prior art machines transferred decorating decals to articles by the use of heat release means and improvements thereto resulted from the development of semiautomatic and automatic decal application machinery. Eventually, the state of the art progressed to the point where heat release decals were printed on a continuous web of paper for feeding through the machines and then transferring the decals to articles to make a finished product. However, a progressively increased use of heat release decals reached a plateau because of intensive competition from alternative methods of applying decorative designs to articles, such as direct screening, direct printing and the like. These alternative methods proved less expensive because of the high cost of placing decals on a web, especially in areas of high volume production.
The cost of decals is determined by a number of factors including the physical size of a decal, the quantity used in a production run and the number of different colors used in perfecting a decorative scheme or artistic layout of a decal.
Attempts to utilize the teachings of the aforementioned and other prior art patents have resulted in a number of difficulties. For example, no one has yet solved the problem of using excessive amounts of decal carrying paper. Also, there continues to be a problem in controlling loss of definition in alternative decorating methods when designs are directly screened, impressed, or imprinted upon an indicia receiving article. Placement of decals in series or consecutive order upon a web in preparation for running the web through the machine for transferring a decal to an article requires adequate spacing between each successive decal on the web so that the machine can be provided a sufficient linear interval in order to remove a decal from the web and apply it to an article. Thus, a large amount of expensive, specially treated decal carrying paper is used to achieve application of a minimum number of decals.